Hall of Scrubs

Karim Garcia is another former major leaguer making news in the World Baseball Classic.  As the leader of a potent Mexican offense, Karim is hitting .385 with three homers and 5 RBI.  Fans of Garcia are certainly not surprised to hear this.  He has been tearing up the Japanese, Korean and Mexican leagues the last few years.  He is ready to do more damage this year as a member of the Lotte Giants in the Korean League, where he is known as the “Latino Bambino.” After his major league career, he learned a little patience at the plate and has emerged as an offensive force.

It is too bad he could not learn that in the big leagues.  He was given several opportunities to do so, but poor defense, lack of plate discipline, and an awful attitude lead to his early departure from many major league organizations.

Karim started out as a top prospect in the Dodgers organization.  He was picked as Sporting News Minor League Player of the year in 1995 and made his major league debut that year at the age of 19.  He was also ranked higher than Alex Rodriguez as a prospect in AAA Pacific Coast League.  He was certainly on the fast track,  but he failed in 3 brief stints with the Dodgers and was selected by the Diamondbacks in the 1997 expansion draft.

Arizona made him part of a platoon in the outfield and he responded with nine homers.  The power was the only part of his game.  His defense in the outfield made him a liability.  Arizona swindled the Tigers in the off-season by shipping him to Detroit for Luis Gonzales, who went on to lead the Diamondbacks to a World Series championship.  The Diamondbacks took advantage of the Randy Smith’s obsession with power-hitting prospects to pull off the best trade in their short history. 

Karim, a left-handed hitter,  used the short right field porch in Tiger Stadium in 1999 to hit 14 homers in 288 at bats.  But Detroit had enough of his antics after one season.  They dumped him off on the Orioles in 2000.  It was the beginning of his career as a journeyman.  The Orioles released him after he went 0 for 16.  The Indians picked him up in 2001, but released him even though he hit 5 homers in 45 at bats.  The Yankees picked him up and released him.  The Indians picked him up again.  He hit 16 homers in limited duty and had a .584 slugging percentage.  But the Indians couldn’t wait to dump him again and sold him to the Yankees in 2003. 

Karim had a decent year for the Yankees in 2003 and was a member of their ALCS and World Series rosters.  However, he embarassed himself that year by joining Yankees reliever, Jeff Nelson, to beat up a member of the Fenway Park grounds crew in the visitor’s bullpen during the ALCS. 

The Yankees let him leave as a free agent in the off-season.   The Mets picked him up and traded him to Baltimore where he was released a second time. It was the end of his major league career.

You can view Karim’s stats at www.baseball-reference.com:

Karim’s stats

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After a three year stint in Japan, Tony Bernazard signed with the Tigers before the 1991 season in what he hoped would be a grand return to Major League Baseball.  The Tigers’ GM, Bill Lajoie, was on a roll with signing  free agents from Japan after picking up Cecil Fielder the year before, so it seemed like Tony would surely have a career season in Detroit.  At the time, I was a major Tiger fan and produced a weekly newsletter about their off-season.  It was a minor publication.  My parents were the only subscribers.  In my column, I predicted that Tony would surpass his season high home run total of 17 that he had for the Indians in 1987, and he would surpass is season high stolen base total of 23 in 1983 to become the first Tigers second baseman to have a 20-20 season.

I was wrong on both counts.  Bill Lajoie was wrong, too.  Tony was a major flop.  He had 12 at bats, hit .167 and was released in May.  It was his last season in the majors.  I had forgotten about him altogether until I recently went on a trip to Frankenmuth, Michigan.  The hotel I stayed at proudly displayed a photo of Tony that was taken at a Tigers’ Fest in 1991.  I found it rather strange that the hotel owner would find something remarkable enough about meeting Tony to put him up on his wall of fame.  Tony did have a decent major league career.  Just not for Detroit.

Prior to going to Japan, Tony did have one decent year as a starting second baseman for the Indians in 1986.  He hit .301 with 17 homers and 73 RBI.  His other years in the majors were mostly mediocre.  He did have one very bad year in 1984 for the Indians as well.  He hit .221 with an awful slugging percentage of .287.

In 1983, Tony was the starting second baseman on the White Sox, a team that was headed for the division championship, but he was traded in the middle of the season to the lowly Mariners for Julio Cruz, who was a much faster second baseman.  He spent the rest of the year playing for the Mariners before being traded to the Indians in the off-season for Gorman Thomas and Jack Perconte. 

After 3 years in Cleveland and a half-season in Oakland, Tony played for the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in Japan.

Tony is currently a Vice President in the New York Mets front office and is often considered a candidate for General Manager positions in the majors.

 You can view Tony’s stats at www.baseball-reference.com

Tony’s stats

Sergio Valdez was a lanky, long-haired pitcher from the Dominican Republic.  Due to his appearance and crazy antics, he was often compared to Pascual Perez.  He could easily have passed for one of the infamous Perez brothers. If he and Pascual were in the WWE, they would have had a story line in which Sergio found out he was a long lost Perez brother, changed his name to Sergio Perez, and joined forces with Pascual to win the Tag Team Championship.

Sadly, Sergio never had same success as Pascual, Melido or Carlos Perez even though his talent was perhaps better.  Sergio started as a prospect in the Expos system.  He struggled in his major league debut season in 1986, posting a 6.84 ERA in 5 starts.  Montreal eventually traded him the the Braves in a deal for Zane Smith.  It was an excellent trade for the Expos.

Sergio struggled for the Braves in 1989 and 1990 and was placed on waivers.  Cleveland picked him up in 1990 and he had decent half season as a spot starter for the Indians.  He pitched 102 innings and had a 4.75 ERA.  It was his strongest year in the majors.

From 1991 thru 1995, Sergio bounced around, pitching primarily out of the bullpen for the Indians, Expos, Red Sox and Giants.  HIs last year in the majors was 1995 in which he started 11 times for the Giants and had a 4.75 ERA.

You can view Sergio Valdez’s stats at www.baseball-reference.com:

Sergio’s Stats

Carlos Martinez appears on every show about sports greatest bloopers.  He is the one who hit the “home run” that bounced off Jose Canseco’s head.  You can see the smirk (or scowl) on his face as he rounds first.

At this time in his career, Carlos was a failed prospect who gained a reputation for being a malcontent.  He was just another player who never lived up to his potential.  After being acquired from the Yankees for the great Ron Kittle, Carlos reached the majors in 1989 with the Chicago White Sox.  As their regular third baseman, he hit .300 with limited power.  It was enough to get White Sox fans excited about his future.  Unfortunately, he followed it up with a .224 year in 1990 after being switched to first base. 

He was quickly dumped due to lack of performance and lack of a good attitude.  Cleveland gave him a shot.  He hit .284 for them in 1991 before struggling again.  He was released in 1994 and ended his career hitting .180 for the Angels in 1995.

You can view Carlos’ stats at www.thebaseballcube.com:

Carlos’ stats

The Atlanta Braves produced a couple of great outfielders in the late seventies and early eighties by the names of Dale Murphy and Brett Butler. Many scouts believed that they would produce a third great outfielder - Brad Komminsk.

Brad Komminsk was a first round draft pick by the Braves in 1981. Based on his minor league career, many people in Atlanta thought he would be as good as Dale Murphy. After hitting .334 with 24 homers and 103 RBI in AAA, the Braves summoned him to the majors to join Butler and Murphy in the outfield. However, he was unable to hit in the majors the same way he had in the minors and he failed to win a starting job.

Brad was given 300 at bats in both 1984 and 1985 to prove himself, but the best he could do was hit 8 homers with a batting average near the Mendoza line.

The disappointed Braves shipped Brad off to Milwaukee where he was quickly sent to the minors.

In 1989, Brad tore up AAA ball again after signing with Cleveland as a minor league free agent. The rebuilding Indians gave him another shot in the majors where he hit 8 homers in 198 at bats but could not get his average above .250.

Brad spent two more years in the majors with very little success.

You can view Brad’s stats at www.baseball-reference.com:

Brad’s stats

Johnny Grubb was a three-time winner of the Stan Papi Award in the 1980’s as the top pinch hitter for the Detroit Tigers dynasty. He is one of the rare scrubs who spent his earlier part of his career as a regular. He even contended for the NL Rookie of the Year Award for the Padres in 1973. He finished 8th in the voting behind Gary Matthews, Steve Rogers, Elias Sosa, Bob Boone, Dan Driessen, Davey Lopes and Ron Cey. Not bad!

After scuffling for the Padres as a regular, Johnny was shipped out to Cleveland in 1976. He shocked the baseball world by slamming 14 homers as a starting outfielder for the Indians, but the rebuilding Indians decided to cash in on Grubb’s value by trading him to the Rangers for prospects.

Grubb transformed himself into a scrub once he joined the Rangers. He became a valuable 5th outfielder and pinch hitter. When the Tigers needed a good left-handed bat off the bench as they began building their dynasty in the 80’s, they chose to send Dave Tobik to the Rangers for Grubb in 1983. Dave Tobik! What a steal for the Tigers.

As a bench warmer for Detroit, Grubb helped the Tigers win the World Series in 1984. He also won his first Stan Papi Award. His dominance as a scrub continued through 1986 when he had perhaps the greatest scrub season of all time, knocking out 13 homers as a part-time player.

After a subpar year in 1987, Johnny tried to latch on with the Atlanta Braves. He did not make the team out of Spring Training and chose to retire.

You can view Johnny’s stats at www.baseball-reference.com:

Johnny’s stats

Carmen Castillo entered the league as a Cleveland Indian in 1982. His original name was Carmelo Castillo. However, when Carmelo Martinez debuted with the Padres, Castillo decided to change his name to Carmen. For some reason, he did not want to be associated with the rotund center fielder from San Diego.

As Carmen, Castillo continued to provide power from the right side for the Indians in the mid-80’s - the dark years in Cleveland. He was strictly a platoon player and pinch hitter throughout his career. He specialized in crushing mistake pitches from lefties throughout the league.

In 1991, Carmen had 12 at bats for the World Champion Minnesota Twins to earn his first World Series ring. He decided to retire after this great accomplishment.

You can view Carmen’s stats at www.baseball-reference.com:

Carmen’s Stats